Observing the continuing tragedy on America's Gulf Coast as reported day by day prompts me to think of the bold and decisive act by President Harry Truman in a case with which legal scholars are highly familiar.

The 1952 case of  Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company vs. Sawyer was the outgrowth of a strike launched by steel workers during the Korean War.  

Truman seized control of the steel mills, using a "theater of war" argument linked to his executive power as the nation's commander in chief during an emergency, in this case the Korean War.

The seizure resulted in steel company lawyers making a late night visit to a D.C. federal district court judge.  This prompted a series of quick actions resulting with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding the case.  

Originally posted at my site Bob Higgins

"We need to be realistic about operating in a mile of water"

Tony Hayward, the cherubic little weasel who serves as the front man for British Petroleum, BP, Beyond Pathetic or whatever they are calling their 'brand' this week, made the statement above, on camera to reporters while standing on an oil fouled Louisiana beach a couple of weeks ago.

Earlier that day I had a fairly heated argument with an elderly acquaintance who recently became enraptured by the 'Teabaggers.' This giddy political infatuation has had the gruesome effect of making him more of a pain in the ass than he was previously.  At one point in the 'discussion' he asked me why BP was drilling at 5000 feet below the surface and I told him that most of the 'easy oil' has been used up and drilling is increasingly taking place in ever riskier and more technologically challenging sites.

His angry retort was 'Bullshit, the tree huggers won't let them drill in shallow water.'

I tried to point out that there are nearly 4000 active oil platforms in the Gulf at depths ranging from a few feet to more than two miles but it was like talking to a wall... or a Teabagger; I gave up and drank my beer.

"Oil Company Expert" Demonstrates Use Of
"State Of The Art High Tech Equipment"
To Clean Up Oil Spill

The Alaskan Pipeline, or one of BP's feeder lines connecting to it is suddenly so rusty that it has to be shut down indefinitely, causing an instant 8% drop in US production capacity.

This fact translates into an instant and enormous revenue loss for Alaska, and:

The event will be followed by an instant double jump in gas prices and an instant double secret jump in oil company revenues.

Now, I'm not an oil expert, (Beer is my area,) I have never been fond of the flavor of "Crude Light", although I once drank some Old Milwaukee and found it somewhat reminiscent of 10w40 when served stale, at room temperature, in a dirty glass. But I digress.

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